How do you negotiate successfully?

1 Know your goals and alternatives

Before you enter a negotiation, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and what you are willing to accept. You also need to know your best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA), which is the most favorable option you have if the negotiation fails. Your BATNA gives you a benchmark to compare any offer with and a source of leverage to negotiate from a position of strength. To identify your BATNA, you need to research the market, evaluate your alternatives, and estimate their value.

2 Understand the other party's interests and perspective

Negotiating is not only about asserting your own interests, but also about understanding the other party's interests and perspective. By doing so, you can identify their needs, motivations, constraints, and concerns, and find areas of common ground or potential trade-offs. You can also build rapport and trust with the other party, which can facilitate communication and cooperation. To understand the other party's interests and perspective, you need to ask open-ended questions, listen actively, empathize, and avoid making assumptions or judgments.

3 Prepare your strategy and tactics

Once you have a clear idea of your goals, alternatives, interests, and perspective, as well as the other party's, you need to prepare your strategy and tactics for the negotiation. Your strategy is the overall approach you will take to achieve your desired outcome, such as cooperative, competitive, or integrative. Your tactics are the specific actions you will use to implement your strategy, such as framing, anchoring, concession, or silence. To prepare your strategy and tactics, you need to consider the context, the relationship, the power balance, and the possible scenarios of the negotiation.

4 Communicate effectively and persuasively

During the negotiation, you need to communicate effectively and persuasively with the other party to convey your message, influence their behavior, and reach an agreement. You need to use verbal and non-verbal communication skills, such as clarity, tone, body language, and eye contact, to express your ideas, emotions, and intentions. You also need to use persuasion techniques, such as logic, evidence, emotion, and credibility, to appeal to the other party's reason, values, and emotions.

5 Manage conflict and emotions

Negotiating can be a stressful and challenging process that can trigger conflict and emotions between the parties. Conflict can arise from differences in interests, values, expectations, or perceptions, and can affect the outcome and the relationship of the negotiation. Emotions can also influence the parties' behavior, judgment, and satisfaction, and can either facilitate or hinder the negotiation. To manage conflict and emotions, you need to adopt a constructive and respectful attitude, focus on the issues rather than the personalities, acknowledge and address the emotions rather than ignore or suppress them, and seek to resolve the conflict rather than escalate or avoid it.

6 Evaluate and close the deal

After you have exchanged offers and counteroffers with the other party, you need to evaluate and close the deal. You need to compare the final offer with your BATNA and your goals, and decide whether to accept, reject, or renegotiate it. You also need to ensure that the deal is fair, realistic, and sustainable for both parties, and that it meets their interests and expectations. To close the deal, you need to summarize the main points of the agreement, confirm the commitment and the next steps, and express appreciation and gratitude.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?